History

97 years since the fall of Imperial Russia

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20th March 2014
<![CDATA[ For 634 years, some form of monarchy had been in operation in Russia, first as the Principality of Moscow, then as the Tsardom of Russia, and more recently, the Russian Empire with some of the most high profile monarchs to ever reign in Europe from Ivan the Terrible to Catherine the Great. Nicholas II was the last Tsar of Russia, as a successful revolution forced him to abdicate.
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History

Prince Albert – A truly remarkable man

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15th March 2014
<![CDATA[In recent years, there seems to have been a surfeit of books and documentaries presenting a very unjust image of Prince Albert as a dour and humourless man, driven by a desire for power, and with little understanding of his children’s needs. Although this…
HistoryInsight

The princess from Wales who gave her name to Europe's newest royal

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1st March 2014
<![CDATA[Europe’s newest royal, Princess Leonore Lilian Maria of Sweden, Duchess of Gotland, shares her first name with one of Sweden’s most famous monarchs. Princess Madeleine of Sweden has named her daughter after her Welsh born great aunt While Ulrike Eleonora, queen regnant and queen consort of the country in the 18th century, is quite possibly the inspiration for the first…
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History

The Queen, Eighty Years a Subject

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20th February 2014
<![CDATA[ When a new portrait of the Queen is unveiled it joins a catalogue of work that began in 1933 when the seven year old Princess Elizabeth sat for Philip Alexius de László, who had been commissioned by her mother, the then Duchess of York to paint the first…
History

Anne of Cleves, A Flanders Mare: Part 3

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18th February 2014
<![CDATA[In July 1540 Anne of Cleves – the fourth wife of Henry VIII – went from being queen of England back to Anne, the Daughter of Cleves, with alarming speed. Life as an ex-queen of England was very nearly uncharted territory, but, for Anne, who was only…
History

Richard III DNA to be ‘mapped’

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12th February 2014
<![CDATA[ It has been revealed that the DNA of the skeleton belonging to Richard III is to sequenced. This could potentially uncover details about the last Plantagenet King, such as his eye and hair colour. This is the next project in a long line of plans to discover more about the King, whose remains were discovered under a car park in Leicester in 2012. This study is to be led by the…
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History

Anne of Cleves, A Flanders Mare: Part 2

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28th January 2014
<![CDATA[Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, endured the shortest marriage of any of the six wives. In fact, her marriage was over before it had even begun. In late June 1540 Anne was informed that, due to plague in London, she was to move to Richmond Palace…
History

Alfred the Great's remains said to have been found

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21st January 2014
<![CDATA[It appears that the remains of King Alfred The Great, or those of his son Edward the Elder, have been found in a forgotten storage box in a museum. King Alfred, who was born in 849, succeeded to the throne after the deaths of his three elder brothers, and ruled…
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Scotland and the Act of Union: Over 300 years on

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18th January 2014
<![CDATA[On January 16, 1707 the Act of Union was passed under Queen Anne. This historic document, and one of the few important legislative pieces to be passed under her reign, brought together the thrones and Parliaments of England and Scotland, formally creating the United Kingdom. It was a long time coming, almost a century had passed since James VI & I took over control of the English…
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